Strumming Triplets

arpie said:

I find that if you actually 'cock' your thumb once you decide to throw a triplet in - ie like doing a finger gun shape - it will flow straight after your forefinger & hit the strings 'naturally' without extra wrist action, then you just bring your forefinger back up again to complete the stroke.

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Yep...this was exactly what I was trying to describe but you do a much better job of getting the point across.

As for sounding like a waltz stroke - by itself it sort of does. The triplet is really only meaningful for the contrast it provides against the "straight strums." When practicing triplets avoid just doing triplet after triplet after triplet (it's not that you should never play triplets back to back, Formby did it a lot, it's that while you are learning you really need to establish the timing against the straight beats). Do a couple of straight strums (either down quarters or down up eighths) and then toss in a triplet - which should be three strums in exactly the same amount of time as the single down quarter or the down-up eighths.

BarefootGypsy does a good job of describing the effect in her post. If we take a typical measure in 4/4 time with down strums on the quarters, and threw in a triplet on the third beat, the result would be "dum, dum, did-el-ly, dum. If you were playing along to a metronome the dum, dum, did, and dum would fall on the metronome beats. Contrast this with a "straight" down, down, down-up, down strum where you're doing all straight time with three quarter notes and two eighths - i.e. "dum, dum, dum-de, dum". Again, all the "dums" are on the down beat with the metronome. So, the only difference between these two strums is in that third beat where where we divide it into three parts instead of two.

And now, I think I've typed "dum" enough times for one post.

John

I'm slowly progressing as a player (I started a little later in life). I have a little trouble applying a new technique, even when I get the technique down pretty well. I still need some one to say "put the triplet here..."

My triplet strum is coming along, but I'm having a hard time incorporating it into a song. I think it sounds best as an accent, like at the end of a phrase, but I can't seem to find the right song and the spot to throw in the triplet. I hear really good players sneak it in here and there and you won't even notice it unless you're listening for it.

I had the same problem with the G-Run on guitar.

peedee said:

...My triplet strum is coming along, but I'm having a hard time incorporating it into a song...

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There are no hard and fast rules (or if there are I'm blissfully unaware of them). Sometimes I like triplets at each chord change, sometimes every other chord change, sometimes on "angry" music I'll do a couple of really chunky strums followed by a heavy triplet through each measure, sometimes I'll throw in a whole sequence of triplets, and on some songs they make a great ending flourish. This post probably hasn't been very helpful for you - but just relax and do whatever sounds good to you, it's your music!

John

OldePhart said:

There are no hard and fast rules (or if there are I'm blissfully unaware of them). Sometimes I like triplets at each chord change, sometimes every other chord change, sometimes on "angry" music I'll do a couple of really chunky strums followed by a heavy triplet through each measure, sometimes I'll throw in a whole sequence of triplets, and on some songs they make a great ending flourish.

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I just learned the triplet literally a couple of weeks ago and I agree with all of that. I still get a but choppy and a-syncrhonous sometimes, but it's getting pretty smooth overall. The only thing it takes is practice.

I am also trying to find ways to incorporate into my playing and have been doing the same thing you are. Figuring out "when" to add this in with other playing/strumming is actually a bigger challenge for me than learning how to do the triplet in the first place!

A really awesome sequence I sort of stumbled on it to do Triplet-DU-Chunk. It sounds so cool!

OldePhart said:

BarefootGypsy does a good job of describing the effect in her post. If we take a typical measure in 4/4 time with down strums on the quarters, and threw in a triplet on the third beat, the result would be "dum, dum, did-el-ly, dum. If you were playing along to a metronome the dum, dum, did, and dum would fall on the metronome beats. Contrast this with a "straight" down, down, down-up, down strum where you're doing all straight time with three quarter notes and two eighths - i.e. "dum, dum, dum-de, dum". Again, all the "dums" are on the down beat with the metronome. So, the only difference between these two strums is in that third beat where where we divide it into three parts instead of two.

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This helps me a lot. I was practicing straight triplets and unsure of the timing and making a distinction from 3/4 time. Thanks Lesley and John.

TheOnlyUkeThatMatters said:

Here's that Kimo Hussey video:

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What a lovely, lovely way to start my day. I'll be grinning all day long now.

I'm still working on it. 1st or 2nd finger down followed by thumb down, then the finger back up. Most of the time it's working okay whichever finger I use, just got to get it smoother & faster now...

Both of those videos are nice. I've run across them before. It's nice reviewing them now and giving it a try again. I still can't seem to get either one down yet, but I think Jake's "up-thumb" seems to feel more natural. If I get lazy fingers, I seem to hear it sometimes, but that's just on accident. HA! Definitely a technique you want to take slow.

coolkayaker1 said:

It's a great Kimo video, except he does it upside down. I think Jake does it opposite of Kimo (think), and I know Aaron from HMS does ( since he says it on one of his vids, and mentions Kimo). More natural for me is the opposite of Kimo.

I'm sorry, but Kimo is doing it wrong.

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Very perceptive comment. I had never noticed they did it the opposite of each other before.

Katz-in-Boots said:

Hmmm, I seem to get confused either way - my thumb starts taking over the initial down strokes. Also, I'm getting more of a waltz rhythm than triplets.
Do you think it'd be okay to use my thumb for the down, then 1st & 2nd fingers for the ups?

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You might as well use only your index for that style since your thumb and finger needs to go in the same direction

Lil'Rev does several in his workshops. The most visually impressive one has a circular motion starting with the pinky going down at an angle towards the headstock, the hand rolls with the thumb also going down, and the circular motion ends with the index finger coming back up to complete the Triplett.

Neat! Thanks for the Kimo Video! Lil Rev teaches the down thumb triplet strum too. No one is wrong!

I love triplets. But I hated them before I had them licked! I wanted to write with them, so I figured I'd better do it right. I do what John describes. It takes practice to get the thumb and index finger to remember they are separate fingers, and also to keep the strums even. You may need to play them really... really... slow... But that's the easiest way to learn them, to take them apart until you have all the elements. Sorry, no shortcuts really. But once you get 'em, you got 'em!

OldePhart said:

I'm not by any means particularly good at triplets - but I struggled with them for a long time before I came across a video by Kimo Hussey that kind of changed my world in that respect. He was talking about triplets and he said something like, "this is your index finger, it strums down and up. This is your thumb, it strums only down." He then proceeded to demonstrate a simple down (index finger), down (thumb), up (index finger) triplet at slow speed.

Now, there are may ways of doing triplets and other similar effects, but I think that one is probably the easiest - it was for me anyway - and ended a lot of frustration for me.

John

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Katz-in-Boots said:

Hmmm, I seem to get confused either way - my thumb starts taking over the initial down strokes. Also, I'm getting more of a waltz rhythm than triplets.
Do you think it'd be okay to use my thumb for the down, then 1st & 2nd fingers for the ups?

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Wish I'd thought of that! I got the other way down, but yours would have been so much easier! If it works for you, then why not? And thanks for sharing!

I learned the Jake's way, index down - thumb up - index up in like an hour or so. But didn't really find any use of it hahaha

matakazer said:

I learned the Jake's way, index down - thumb up - index up in like an hour or so. But didn't really find any use of it hahaha

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Play the blues with it!

I love Jake, but I'm definitely in the Kimo camp when it comes to the triplet strum - probably because I first tried to learn it from another Jake video in which he demonstrates it at finger-blurring light speed and then says "there, you've got it, well done": of course, I didn't have it at that point, & I felt like throwing a cushion at the screen! The video of Jake posted on here is a much better teaching tool, but personally I'd prefer to admire his playing and learn from Kimo. There's an incredible warmth to Kimo Hussey's presentation that gives me confidence and makes me want to do well.

I first learned triplets from Lil Rev, he's a very good teacher. Kimo does it the same way, and I love Kimo's videos. I'm not sure Jake has the patience to teach someone who isn't a very quick study, and already a good musician.....he's brilliant, but he's WAY over my head.

RatherBeInCabo said:

Play the blues with it!

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Hadn't thought of that, it gives another option for a turnaround. Thanks.